In their book on friendship, Liz Spencer and Ray Pahl identified 8 different types (based on their research).

Associates were people who only shared a common activity, like a hobby or a sport. Useful contacts were people who shared information and advice, typically related to work or advancing ones career. Favor friends were people who helped each other out in a functional manner, but not in an emotional manner. Fun friends were people who socialized together, but only for fun. They didn’t provide each other with a deep level of emotional support. Helpmates were a combination of favor friends and fun friends. They socialized together and helped each other out in a functional manner. Comforters were like helpmates, but they also provided emotional support. Confidants disclosed personal information to each other, enjoyed each other’s company, but weren’t always in a position to offer practical help, for example if they lived far away. Soulmates displayed all of the elements.

Which types of friendships are you targeting?

Selected comments

Anatoliy Milner

July 22, 2010 at 7:47 am

Paul, thank you. However, I think this classification of friends is a little bit uncompleted as well as your consideration of this problem in your slide-show. For example, what about relatives, coworkers, online friends moved from offline, etc. I research this issue a couple of years and write on “virtual friendship” in context of “social” Internet future at my blog (unfortunately, in Russian only). Last my post on this topic is “Social labyrinth, or What is a friend’s weight?” http://amilner.itechbridge.com/2010/07/20/social-labyrinth/ . It’s regarding your last posts and your future book. You could understand what I want to say if read attachment in English to the post.

Christopher S. Rollyson

September 13, 2010 at 9:24 pm

Paul, thanks for sharing; we need many more conversations like this! My hypothesis is that digital social networks give us unprecedented choice of people with whom to have relationships, but very few humans have EVER been good at choosing and managing complex relationship webs (“social networks”). Why? Because geo and social position largely dictated with whom we interacted. IOW, we aren’t supposed to be good at this. As an exec and long-time networker and coach, i have remarked on this but only recently it because obvious (after reading Dunbar). People aren’t good at offline networking, and online is even more difficult for them because they aren’t aware of how to do it face to face, so transferring to a digital process is even harder. Cheers

erancore | Pearltrees

January 21, 2012 at 10:21 am

[...] Eight types of friendship » THINK OUTSIDE IN Fun friends were people who socialized together, but only for fun. They didn’t provide each other with a deep level of emotional support. Helpmates were a combination of favor friends and fun friends. They socialized together and helped each other out in a functional manner. Favor friends were people who helped each other out in a functional manner, but not in an emotional manner. Comforters were like helpmates, but they also provided emotional support. [...]

My thoughts on Different type of Friends | Mentyzee's Blog October 12, 2012 at 10:55 am

[...] Hi readers, ( i really wanna know who actually read my blog posts), i am just curious ya know .hehehe it is 4:30 am , where maybe some people just woke up and getting ready to work or maybe there are people at the other side of the planet is working? taking nap? or more… and i am supposed to be on my bed and sleep tightly and cover myself with my warmiee winnie the pooh blanket … i tried to force myself to sleep since 2:30, i lied on my bed and played my tablets till 3:30 am .. and i still don’t feel tired at all. i have been thinking a lot. really a lot .or somehow my mind is wandering around and i could not focus at all … at some point, i am thinking about my parents, my future, my future husband, people around me, random faces and moreeee.. i was just over-thinking. think too much and sometimes is not necessary at all ..i should just stay focus on myself. what i should do and who i want to be …(is it sound selfish) okay, so what do i really want to talk about? okay look, i wanna talk about soul mates, real friends and real buddy so i went to google and typed “different type of friends” so the first  webpage shown me this http://www.thinkoutsidein.com/blog/2010/04/eight-types-of-friendship/ [...]

Wisdom Wednesday | Pathway to Spiritual Rebirth

May 21, 2014 at 5:05 pm

[…] Associates were people who only shared a common activity, like a hobby or a sport. Useful contacts were people who shared information and advice, typically related to work or advancing ones career.Favor friends were people who helped each other out in a functional manner, but not in an emotional manner. Fun friends were people who socialized together, but only for fun. They didn’t provide each other with a deep level of emotional support. Helpmates were a combination of favor friends and fun friends. They socialized together and helped each other out in a functional manner. Comforters were like helpmates, but they also provided emotional support. Confidants disclosed personal information to each other, enjoyed each other’s company, but weren’t always in a position to offer practical help, for example if they lived far away. Soulmates displayed all of the elements.http://www.thinkoutsidein.com/blog/2010/04/eight-types-of-friendship/ […]

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1. Fiabilité de l'Information : ChatGPT peut parfois fournir des informations inexactes ou obsolètes. Il est crucial de vérifier les données fournies, surtout dans des contextes critiques comme la santé, le droit, ou la sécurité.

2. Dépendance et Réduction des Compétences : Une utilisation excessive de ChatGPT peut entraîner une dépendance à l'outil, réduisant potentiellement la capacité des utilisateurs à penser de manière critique ou à résoudre des problèmes par eux-mêmes.

3. Biais et Discrimination : Le modèle peut refléter ou amplifier des biais présents dans les données sur lesquelles il a été entraîné. Cela peut conduire à des problèmes de discrimination ou à des recommandations inéquitables.

4. Confidentialité et Sécurité des Données : L'utilisation de ChatGPT pour traiter des informations sensibles soulève des inquiétudes en matière de confidentialité et de sécurité des données, notamment si les conversations ne sont pas correctement sécurisées ou anonymisées.

5. Désinformation et Manipulation : ChatGPT peut être utilisé pour générer des textes trompeurs ou de la désinformation, ce qui peut avoir des conséquences graves, en particulier dans des domaines comme la politique ou la santé publique.

6. Impact sur l'Emploi : L'automatisation apportée par des outils comme ChatGPT pourrait menacer certains emplois, en particulier ceux qui impliquent des tâches routinières ou répétitives.

7. Dépendance à la Technologie : Une forte dépendance à ChatGPT pour des tâches critiques pourrait poser des problèmes si le système devient indisponible en raison de problèmes techniques ou de pannes.

8. Éthique et Responsabilité : Il y a des préoccupations éthiques autour de l'utilisation de ChatGPT, notamment en ce qui concerne la responsabilité des actions et des décisions prises sur la base de ses conseils ou analyses.

9. Impact sur les Compétences Sociales et Éducatives : L'utilisation de ChatGPT, en particulier chez les jeunes, pourrait affecter le développement des compétences sociales et de communication, ainsi que des méthodes d'apprentissage traditionnelles.

10. Abus et Mauvaise Utilisation : Comme toute technologie puissante, ChatGPT peut être abusé ou utilisé à des fins néfastes, telles que la cyberintimidation, le spam, ou la création de contenus illégaux.

Il est important pour les utilisateurs et les développeurs de rester conscients de ces risques et de travailler à les atténuer, en veillant à une utilisation responsable et éthique de la technologie.